so much for the american dream

feds tightening grip on student loans.

ya know... i'm going to go on a tangent. the american bar association should just revoke accreditation for the bottom 1/4 of law schools (which are nothing but profit-driven machines that lure unsuspecting students in, make them pay $140k in tuition, and have them graduate without jobs), and they should sanction law schools that lie on their employment statistics (a common practice). i read a story of a law school grad who had to work as a janitor for a couple of months to pay bills, and he dutifully filled in his six-month employment report to his school. a year later, curious as to what his school labeled his employment status as, he was shocked to find that they marked him in the category of "business."

here's the truth. only the top 15 law schools will guarantee you a nice job upon graduation. then, as you go down the list to the end of tier 2, you have to be in the top 10% to break $55k the first year out of school. most people end up temping, like me. i'm not complaining about my salary (i'm very happy - i'm making much more than most of my classmates), but having a full time job with benefits and which would allow me to make the $750 a month in loan payments would be better. it will be unlikely that i will get one of these jobs.

my school's employment stats read like this when i applied:

96% of graduates were employed 9 months after graduation. then they broke it down further, but did not specify where everyone was working, whether it was starbucks or a law firm. i assumed those jobs would be law related. they don't have to be. then, in fine print, they noted that the statistics only reflected *those who responded to the survey.* not exactly accurate.

other tactics included extrapolating hourly wages to yearly salaries, which is total bullshit. most temp assignments last only two weeks. then you're out of a job for another month or two. so the $90k you would make for a year quickly shrinks to $45k in reality. without benefits. with $750 a month in loan payments. so the $90k average that law schools print in their glossy marketing materials are completely false.

thanks to institutions that charge enough money to buy a three bedroom house in the midwest for tuition and who blatantly lie about post-grad job prospects, graduates' lives are screwed. really. the more these schools lie, the more people bite the hook and pay them money. it's quite simple.

change needs to come from the bottom. the a.b.a. seriously needs to stop accrediting schools and sanction those who falsely advertise their employment statistics by suspending accreditation. this garbage has gone on too long.